Dr. Majumdar came to Washington, DC two and a half years ago tasked with setting up the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy, a new agency in the Department of Energy to fund projects that will develop transformational technologies that reduce America’s dependence on foreign energy imports; reduce US energy related emissions (including greenhouse gasses); improve energy efficiency across all sectors of the US economy and ensure that the US maintains its leadership in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies.

Dr. Majumdar has successfully accomplished the task put forth by the Obama Administration, to establish America’s first agency dedicated to catalyzing energy breakthroughs to secure America’s future.  With ARPA-E now in its third year and a solid leadership team in place, Dr. Majumdar feels that it is an appropriate time to step down to be with his family in California.  He will cherish the time he spent serving his country at ARPA-E and the Department of Energy and hopes that his work has helped lay the foundation for ARPA-E and America’s energy future.  He would like to thank the Obama Administration, Energy Secretary Chu and his colleagues at the Department of Energy and ARPA-E for their dedication, constant support and the enriching experience.

                          

Obama is proposing a financial aid overhaul that would – for the first time – tie colleges’ eligibility for campus-based aid programs (Perkins loans, work-study, and supplemental grants for low-income students) to the institutions’ success in improving affordability and value for students.  Under the proposed plan, the amount available for Perkins loans would grow to $8 billion, from the current $1 billion. Obama also wants to create a $1 billion grant competition, along the lines of the Race for the Top program for elementary and secondary education, to reward states that take action to keep college costs down.  Finally, he has also proposed a separate $55 million competition for individual colleges to increase their value and efficiency.

The administration also wants to give families clearer information about costs and quality, by requiring colleges and universities to offer a “shopping sheet” that would make it easier to compare financial aid packages and post-graduate earnings and employment information – all in an attempt to give students and families a better sense of what to expect from the college and after graduation. This would be in addition to the requirement imposed this year on the “college cost calculator.”

These proposed changes would all require Congressional approval, which is not likely to happen this year.  While some legislation may get introduced, most of the discussion around these ideas will take place out on the campaign trail.  Hang on for a bumpy ride!

Read more about the State of the Union address. 

Read more about the President’s speech at University of Michigan. 

Read more about Secretary Duncan’s “Beyond the Iron Triangle” speech.

                          

The reports are the most rigorous assessments thus far undertaken by DOE and its collaborative partners, including the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Georgia Tech Research Corporation.

The DOE reports may be accessed here:

“Mapping and Assessment of the United States Ocean Wave Energy Resource”

“Assessment of Energy Production Potential from Tidal Streams in the United States”

                          

FY2012 Spending Bills Conference Report (HR 2055)

Defense

• Overall Discretionary= $518.1 billion, an increase of $5.1 billion over FY11
• RDT&E (Overall) = $72.4 billion, a decrease of $2.5 billion from FY11

• DARPA language: The conferees recommend a total of$166,122,000 in undistributed reductions

throughout the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).  The conferees

direct the Director of DARPA to provide a report to the congressional defense

committees, not later than 60 days after enactment of this Act, detailing by program

element and project the application of each undistributed reduction

• NAVY University Research Initiatives = $133.2 million

Energy & Water

• Department of Energy overall discretionary = $32 billion, increase of $328 million over last year’s level
  • ARPA-E = $275 million, increase of $95 million from FY11
  • EERE = $1.825 billion, decrease of $10 million from last year
  • Office of Science = $4.889 billion, increase of $5 million over FY11

Interior and Environment

• Department of Interior
  • USGS = $1.07 billion, $30 million less than FY11
  • NEH = $146.3 million, $9 million less than FY11
  • NEA – $146.3 million, $9 million less than FY11
• EPA
  • Office of Science and Technology = $795 million

Labor-HHS-ED

• HHS overall discretionary = $69.7 billion, decrease of $700 million from FY11
  • HRSA = $6.5 billion, decrease of $41 million from FY11
    • Health Workforce  = $734.4 million
    • Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program = $2.33 billion, level funded
    • Healthcare Systems = $83.5 million, $3 million cut from FY11

**Note: language included that states that an additional $161.8 million may be used to supplement programs under the sections: “Primary Health Care”, “Health Workforce”, “Maternal and Child Health”, “Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program”, “Health Care Systems”, “Rural Health”

• • CDC = $6.1 billion ($38 million above FY11)
    • NIOSH (overall funding level)= $182.9 million, also includes language: “in addition to amounts provided herin, $110.7 million shall be available from amounts available under section 241 of the PHS Act”
      • Education and Research Centers = $24.3 million
      • Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Program = $22 million
  • NIH = $30.7 billion, $299 million above FY11 level
  • SAMHSA = $3.5 billion, $27 million below FY11
• Education overall discretionary = $71.3 billion, decrease of $153 million below FY11
  • Pell = $5550 maximum award is maintained by implementing the following changes (estimated to save $11 billion over 10 years):
    • Eliminate the interest subsidy during the 6 month student loan grace period
    • Limit grants per student to max of 6 yrs/12 semesters
    • Require HS Diploma, GED/completion of homeschool program for eligibility
    • Slight adjustment of minimum Pell grant
    • Reduce eligible automatic income level from $30K to $23K

• International Education = $74.2 million

• • IES = $594.8 million
  • JAVITS and GAANN programs will be consolidated at the recommendation of the administration
  • TRIO = $840 million

State

• International Fisheries Commission (top line number) = $36.3 million

And this language:

The conference agreement includes funding for the  operational costs of  the International

Pacific Halibut Commission, including current lease expenses, and the conferees direct the

Commission to fund these costs prior to investing in new programs or expanding existing

programs

                          

Read more about the development of this NSF report.

                          

Super Committee

Although the bipartisan panel officially has until November 23^rd to make their recommendations, it would take time to write legislative language and have it officially analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office by that deadline, as is required by the August debt limit law (PL 112-25) that created the committee. This means that the group will need to have the outlines of a deal in place by the end of this week.  On a positive note, members of the bipartisan panel have recently indicated their willingness to compromise on issues important to each party – such as increasing revenues and curtailing entitlements. Republicans for the first time have opened the door to an increase in new tax revenue, while Democrats have proposed deeper spending cuts, which could include both Medicare and Medicaid. Despite that progress, both parties rejected proposals leaked last week that contained those concessions, each side saying that the other’s plan had not offered enough.  

First Mini-Bus:  Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Transportation-HUD

Appropriators are expected to file a conference report Monday on the first mini-bus of FY12 spending bills, setting the stage for Congress to clear it by week’s end.  The package contains roughly $127.8 billion in discretionary appropriations for the Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Transportation-HUD spending bills for FY12.  It is expected to be passed first by the House and then by the Senate.  The largely non-controversial bundle will contain a new CR to keep government running through mid-December, since the current stopgap measure expires on Friday.  

Second Mini-Bus:  Energy-Water, Financial Services, and State-Foreign Operations

The Senate will begin debating the second mini-bus package this week, and hope to take action on the measure next week before leaving for the Thanksgiving holiday.  The package, which includes the Energy-Water, Financial Services, and State-Foreign Operations spending measures, would provide a total of $129.5 billion for the various agencies in FY12.  In a sign of bipartisan support, 81 senators backed cloture on the measure last week but support for bringing the bill to the floor may mask stumbling blocks that lie in controversial amendments, which are expected to target both funding levels and policy provisions in the bills.

Balanced Budget Amendment

House leaders plan to bring up for consideration a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.  This measure will be a more “traditional” version rather than one that mandates spending caps and requires a supermajority for raising taxes.  Supporters of the traditional balanced-budget amendment, which requires that outlays do not exceed revenues and a three-fifths majority to raise the debt ceiling, emphasize that the same version passed in the House in 1995 with 300 votes, including 72 Democratic supporters. The vote, scheduled for later this week, will fulfill a requirement of the August debt limit law and also satisfy members of the House Republican conference who are eager to back it.  Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority to pass either chamber, which is 290 votes in the House and 67 votes in the Senate.

Obama’s “We Can’t Wait” Issue of the Week:  Healthcare Workforce

According to the Washington Post, the Obama administration will announce today as much as $1 billion to hire, train, and deploy healthcare workers, part of the President’s broader “We Can’t Wait” agenda to bolster the economy after his jobs bill stalled in Congress last month.  Grants can go to doctors, community groups, local government, and other organizations that work with patients in federal healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.  The funds are for experimenting with different ways to expand the healthcare workforce while reducing the cost of delivering care.  There will be an emphasis on speed, with new programs expected to be running within six months of funding.   The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, created as part of the Affordable Care Act, will administer and oversee the program, called the Health Care Innovation Challenge. 

Sources:  CQ, Washington Post, Politico

                          

The administration is essentially speeding up by 2 years, a federal law that was set to go into effect in 2014. Announced today and beginning in January of 2012, students with federal loans who enroll in the Income Based Repayment Plan will experience a cap on their federal student loan repayments at 10% (currently 15%) of discretionary income and all remaining debt on these federal loans will be forgiven after 20 years (currently 25 years).

The second part of the initiative encourages students with one or more types of federal loans to consolidate them for a 0.5% interest rate reduction.

The administration estimates that this could affect up to 1.6 million borrowers and save some students hundreds of dollars a month.